Americana, Roots-Rock from Jackson Hole, Wyoming

About

“Screen Door Porch lends an easy Western flair to their more prominent native influences of North Carolina and Kentucky, a combination that goes down as smoothly as top-shelf bourbon.” (Austin Chronicle)

“[Rose & Davis] swap lead vocals to suit the song and songwriter, a sort of Lennon/McCartney arrangement and get it right every time: heartfelt yes, earthy certainly, but never languid. ‘Burnin’ At Both Ends’ and ‘Shift Work’ show both our heroes at their most gritty. The reality is that Seadar Rose and Aaron Davis go together like bacon and eggs. This is the sound of America, untamed and infinite.” (Americana UK)

Screen Door Porch delivers a Wyoming-grown fusion of soulful Americana, Roots-Rock and Country-Blues akin to “Gillian Welch meets The Band, with Ryan Adams and Bonnie Raitt hanging out backstage” (605 Magazine). Grooving, electrified porch music, that is. The core female/male singer-songwriter pair of Seadar Rose & Aaron Davis thrive in a space that houses rustic harmonies, a diverse bag of acoustic & electric instrumentation, and “a sort of Lennon/McCartney arrangement and get it right every time” (Americana UK). Screen Door Porch was featured in a Sunday edition of the New York Times for their “entrepreneurial gumption” in founding the WYOmericana Caravan Tour, while Paste Magazine named them one of Wyoming’s Top Bands, “an impressive musical discovery.”

Part of Screen Door Porch’s MO has always been a breadth of acoustic and electric instrumentation for just four people—acoustic/electric/slide guitars, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, and kazoogle reinforced by the emphatic rhythm section of fretless bassist Tom Davidson and drummer/harmony vocalist Andy Peterson. This range allows for an infectious swagger of gritty, slide induced blues-rock to sultry indie-folk, evidenced on the band’s third studio LP, Modern Settler (2015), which harvests the gratitude stirred from Wyoming’s landscape and its mythic characters.

Modern Settler is Screen Door Porch’s first recording as the current four-piece unit, which includes fretless bassist Tom Davidson and drummer/harmony vocalist Andy Peterson. A sibling-like chemistry developed from over three years of touring the country together, though the progression has not come easy. When Screen Door Porch hit the local Jackson Hole scene in 2007, there were only a couple of bands playing original music in the valley, and few venues would book such bands. Aaron and Seadar persisted, and by 2009 had sprouted into a more rhythmic, dynamic quartet. The pair moved to Austin in winter of 2009-10 to focus on the recording and debut release of Screen Door Porch (2010), which solidified the long-term journey of being independent, touring songwriters. By the time The Fate & The Fruit (2012) was released, the band quickly became one of the most recognized acts in the state, performing on regional festival stages and earning high-profile support slots for world class acts while headlining smaller scale festivals and concert series.

For the recording of Modern Settler (the first album recorded outside of Austin), a welcomed fifth dimension quickly developed with world-class instrumentalist/engineer Ben Winship (of Loose Ties, Brother Mule). Winship co-produced alongside Aaron and Seadar, contributed mandola and bouzouki, and was skillful in arranging vocal harmonies at his Henhouse Studio. The album also contains other ‘firsts’ for the band: revealing 3-part harmony (sung by Peterson), utilizing horns and unusual percussion textures like chains and brooms, and treatment of two cover songs. “Poor Elijah/Tribute to Johnson” by Delaney & Bonnie/Leon Russell and “Street People” by Bobby Charles were obvious choices—songs by artists that had been recent discoveries and major influences on Seadar and Aaron in between album cycles.

SDP’s first two studio albums—Screen Door Porch (2010) and The Fate & The Fruit (2012)—were internationally recognized in eight “Best Albums of the Year” lists. The band has been fortunate to perform at over two dozen festivals including South by Southwest, Treefort Music Fest, and Magic City Blues Fest, while sharing bills with some of their favorite artists—Buddy Guy, Sam Bush, Steve Earle, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Justin Townes Earle, and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. The Fate & The Fruit hovered in the Top 25 of the Euro-Americana Chart and Top 30 of the Roots Music Report Roots-Rock Chart. In 2013, Screen Door Porch became the first Wyoming band to record a session at Daytrotter Studio in Illinois.

Also in 2013, Screen Door Porch founded the annual WYOmericana Caravan Tour—a rotating cast of high caliber Wyoming-based acts showcasing original music and described by The New York Times as “a traveling concert circus.” The tour inspired the documentary film, WYOMERICANA, which earned 1st place at the 2014 Laramie Film Fest. The film exposes the rare format and colorful characters that propel the tour.